your face shone (the first safe beacon i had ever seen)
by cyclothimic
Summary: or Alex has a crush on the cashier at the drugstore and is dared by Winn to pick up more condoms than she will ever need from said drugstore.


**it's official - i'm a sucker for ships that are not likely to happen. when i first saw alex and maggie together, i was like 'aww that's cute'. but when i first saw alex and sam together, my heart plummeted and i know i'm doomed yet again.**

 **this is a byproduct of that impending doom that will undoubtedly crush me.**

 **now, read, ponder, and enjoy!**

* * *

 _Her arm, bright with sweat, near enough to radiate dangerous heat._

 _-Mirror, Natalie Wee_

* * *

She loved Winslow Schott, she really did. Winn was like the brother she had never asked for but wouldn't want to get rid of now that she had him. He was goofy, occasionally funny, oftentimes gentle, and always caring.

But sporadically, that pair of his would swell to suicidal levels and he would say things like daring her to buy twenty condoms at the drugstore on the other side of the street. And she would find that the love she had for him could easily be turned into hate – she would gladly kill him, right now, with this crooked fork at this stupid diner that served the best scrambled eggs in National City.

Except she wouldn't, because apart from being slightly homicidal and dangerous, Alex Danvers also wasn't one to back down from a challenge. It just wasn't in her nature. Always got her into trouble from kindergarten to college. Even in adulthood, the fact she was a Homeland agent said a lot about her inability to say no to a challenge, regardless if it was big or small.

Alex sighed heavily when Lena and Winn snickered – Lena wasn't even trying to hide it. She sent a glare to her sister, threatening, "I'm gonna kill you." Kara was the one who suggested Truth or Dare, after all. It wasn't entirely Winn's fault.

"Hey, no one asked you to choose dare," Kara said with a shrug, moving to tighten her arm around Lena's shaking shoulders. "Now, go and get those condoms. Maybe the cute cashier you've been crushing on since you moved here is on duty." She had the gall to giggle.

"God, I hope not," Alex whispered to herself, sliding out of the booth and walking out of the diner.

As she waited for the light to turn green, she turned around to find her friends all watching eagerly from inside. The light turned green, and she walked backwards across the road with two middle fingers up in the air for them to see, not caring that there was an old couple crossing the road with her. High chances were that she wasn't going to see them anytime soon – National City was huge.

As soon as she reached the other side of the road, she lowered the fingers, shot the couple who looked scandalized a polite smile, and walked into the drugstore only to want to walk right out. Apparently, her prayers weren't answered. Maybe she should have celebrated Hanukkah with more vigor last year.

S. Arias was right there at the cashier counter, playing on her phone and looking incredibly good even in that drab drugstore uniform and a head of hair pulled into a messy ponytail. Leave it to S. Arias to pull off that god awful uniform flawlessly.

Luckily for her, the cashier hadn't seen her yet, so she quickly sneaked between the aisles where the 'Family Planning' section was displayed rather daringly in neon orange. She stared at the array of lubrications, condoms, and pregnancy kits sitting in rows and columns, neatly categorized, and utterly flummoxing to Alex. Never had she ever had to visit this particular aisle in her entire life.

Her teenage years were filled with kisses by boys she was disgusted by. Her early adulthood was spent panicking about her possible homosexuality, confirming her complete gayness at the appearance of a certain police officer, and having really, _really_ good lesbian sex with said cop. And now, she was twenty-nine years old visiting the 'Family Planning' section for the first time _ever_. She cursed Winn for making her do this, herself for being such a daredevil, and her younger self for not paying attention to the mediocre sex-ed classes they taught in high school.

 _Why_ would _anyone_ need _durian-flavored condoms_?

Shaking her head to herself, knowing that she would never understand straight people enough, Alex grabbed a basket from the end of the aisle that was _far away_ from the cashier and swiped what could possibly be more than twenty packets of condoms into the basket. She could already feel a woman who was browsing the pregnancy kits watching her with a smirk.

 _God_ , she hated Winn so much.

With a barely composed smile towards the woman, she whispered, "Congratulations," and then walked out from between aisles. She stopped at the corner to take in the cashier stations, marveling in her bad luck when she realized that only one was open.

Okay, see, Alex had spent the entire time since she'd moved here – six months – trying to gather up the courage to talk to S. Arias, maybe even ask her out if she was feeling gutsy enough. And she wasn't saying that she had finally grown a pair to finally open her mouth and introduce herself to S. Arias, but she really couldn't see checking out dozens of condoms helpful in any way at all.

You know what, to hell with it. She pushed forward and unceremoniously tilted over the basket to dump the packets on the surface of the counter, surprising both herself and S. Arias, who almost toppled over from her stool and hurriedly stuffed her phone in her back pocket.

"I wasn't playing Candy Crush!" S. Arias yelped.

Alex gaped at the woman and slowly smiled. "Right," she said drily. And then she realized that this was the first time she had exchanged any word with the cashier and straight up blushed from the neck to her cheeks. She cleared her throat and gestured at the piles of condoms. "I – Check these out for me, please."

S. Arias lowered her panicked eyes to the merchandise, and the complete sheepishness from before was gone, replaced by a teasing smirk and slightly narrowed eyes. "Should I congratulate you?" she asked, grabbing the barcode reader. Alex frowned in question. "On the sex," the cashier clarified as she scanned the barcodes on each of the packs. She squinted at the durian-flavored one and hummed. "Nice."

"Oh!" Alex said, almost shouted, jolting the woman again. She scrunched her face tight, inwardly scolding herself for not keeping her chill. She was a Homeland Security agent, for god's sake. Act like it! "No, no, these are – these aren't mine. Well, technically, they are, but…" She could see she was going nowhere judging by the smirk that wasn't going away. Taking a deep breath, she sighed. "I am very gay. I have never used these things in my life. My friend, who I will kill after this, dared me to get twenty packets of condom. He is in that diner right across the street." She vaguely gestured at the diner. "Give me vagina or give me death, I guess."

 _Did she really just say that_?

"Can we ignore that last part?" she murmured, eyes everywhere but S. Arias.

"Anything for the customers." Alex would have believed the cashier was sincere if not for the smirk that was _still_ there. "These are definitely more than twenty packets, though."

"Consider them gifts for his funeral."

S. Arias laughed.

Alex Danvers was one of the best performing agents in the Science and Technology Directorate. Hell, she even sometimes partook in field operations because they needed her field skills. Recently, she had captured the attention of the Chief of Staff because she had helped in solving a bioterrorist case. She was intelligent, strategic, and calm in the face of emergencies.

And yet, in the face of a beautiful woman with a beautiful laugh, she melted.

Alex hated herself for being so goddamn weak in front of attractive women.

"This is the first time I've seen you talk so much," S. Arias commented. "I've seen you around, been your cashier quite a few times, but this is the first time I talk to you."

The redhead blinked. "Yeah, I – um." She ran her fingers through her cropped hair and shrugged. "Sorry, I guess."

The cashier shook her head. "It's nice. You're cute."

Okay, there she went. Goodbye, world. _Fuck_. If cartoons were real, she would be tomato red and steaming from the ears. She didn't think even Maggie had gotten this kind of effect from her. It was preposterous and completely unbefitting of a Homeland Security agent.

"Thanks," she muttered.

Kara and Lena's voices echoed in her head as she watched S. Arias scan the rest of the packets in silence. For six months, since she accidentally revealed her flaming crush for the cashier working at the drug store down the street, they had been encouraging her to just grow a pair of boobs and ask for the woman's name, if not out on a date.

"So, anything for the customers, huh?"

Well, she figured if this went in a direction that wasn't in her favor, she could just switch to the drugstore on the other side of the street. This courage that came with not being able to back down from a dare wasn't going to last long. Might as well use it while it was still there.

S. Arias paused in her action of scanning the last packet, nodding cautiously.

Alex licked her lips, swallowed, blinked a few times, allowed herself two seconds to reconsider, and then said, "What if this customer wants to ask you out?" And it was out there. No way of taking it back now. No Men in Black neuralyzer to the rescue.

She watched as the cashier's smirk gradually shifted into a genuine smile. She watched as S. Arias scanned the last packet and shoved it into the plastic bag filled with condoms. She watched as the woman punched in a few keystrokes on the cash register and displayed the price point of her purchase.

Well, the other drugstore from now on it is then. Alex tamped down the disappointment growing in her chest and made a note to not only kill Winn but also Kara and Lena as well, and paid for the purchase with a twenty dollar bill.

S. Arias returned the appropriate change, but when Alex wanted to grab the receipt, she put it down on the counter top and grabbed a pen, scribbling something. And then she handed it over to Alex with a wink.

"I get off at 10, and my name is Samantha. You can call me Sam."

Gob smacked, Alex gingerly took the piece of paper and read the digits scribbled there. "So I –" She cleared her throat, fighting the triumph to make itself known on her face. Taking a step back, she said, "I'll see you at 10, then?" It was phrased more like a question than a statement, because she still couldn't quite believe that a botched and lame attempt to finally ask her out actually worked.

"10 it is."

When Alex emerged from the drugstore, she could see her friends eagerly watching from across the street. She made a note to buy Winn his favorite pizza as she crossed the street, the watch strapped around her wrist ticking down.

* * *

 **it was crazy. i don't know what came over me. please like me.**


End file.
